It’s that day again, Draw a Bird Day! This little guy is a bee hummingbird, the smallest species of bird in the world. There are several photos out there of these little guys sitting on pencils, and I thought I’d have a go at painting one of my own for Bird Day. 🙂

Here’s a splotchy little drawing of a happy orange canary for Draw a Bird Day! The 8th of each month is always such a fun time to see everyone’s bird drawings, and I wanted to add a little summery zest to mine for July. This is based on a beautiful photograph by Luke Stephenson.

I experimented with some splatter techniques in this piece, and it reminded me of a conversation I had a few years ago. When I was about 13 or 14, my piano teacher stopped me in the middle of a lesson and said, “You know music is supposed to be fun, right?” She encouraged me to let loose, to forget about trying to be perfect, and to remember that piano was something that I was doing because I enjoyed it. Ever since then, I’ve played with reckless abandon, and I’m trying to incorporate that into my paintings as well. Embracing looseness, messiness, and flaws. Isn’t that what watercolor is all about? 🙂

Join me in celebrating the medium of watercolor and promoting arts education by checking out worldwatercolor.com and tagging your watercolor art with #WorldWatercolorMonth during the month of July!